A smoking Samsung phone just caused Southwest to evacuate a plane

AP
For the past few weeks, airlines have been warning passengers at the beginning of flights to power down their Samsung devices after the Korean phone maker was forced to recall some of its smartphones over exploding batteries.

Now we know why the airlines were taking the warning so seriously.

A Southwest Airlines flight from Louisville International Airport to Baltimore was forced to evacuate because a Samsung device overheated and began to smoke, CBS WLKY reports.

A Southwest spokesperson confirmed the evacuation, but only said it was due to smoke coming from an "electronic device." The spokesperson did not specify what the device was.

According to the local news report, the dropped Samsung device filled the airline with smoke, and caused damage to the plane's carpet. No injuries were reported on the 75-person flight.

The Galaxy Note 7 is the only Samsung phone that has been recalled over malfunctioning batteries. Samsung has since released updated Galaxy Note 7 models that it says are free of the battery issues.

However, The Verge spoke to the man who said he owned the phone that started smoking on the Southwest flight and that it was in fact a Galaxy Note 7. The owner also said the phone was one of the replacement devices that wasn't supposed to have the battery flaw that caused Samsung to recall the Note 7.

If that's the case, that means even replacement Note 7s could be at risk.

Samsung hasn't confirmed whether or not the device was a replacement Note 7 or a defective one that was recalled.

"Until we are able to retrieve the device, we cannot confirm that this incident involves the new Note 7," a Samsung spokesperson told Business Insider in an email statement. "We are working with the authorities and Southwest now to recover the device and confirm the cause. Once we have examined the device we will have more information to share."